Systems and methods for utility locating in a multi-utility environment

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for uniquely identifying buried utilities in a multi-utility region by sensing magnetic fields emitted from the buried utilities.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods forlocating and identifying buried utilities. More specifically, but notexclusively, the disclosure relates to systems and methods for uniquelyidentifying buried utilities in a multi-utility region.

BACKGROUND

Magnetic field sensing locating devices (interchangeably referred as“locating devices”, “utility locators”, or simply “locators”) have beenused for many years to locate utilities that are buried or obscured fromplain sight. Such conventional locating devices are generally hand-heldlocators capable of sensing magnetic fields emitted from hidden orburied utilities (e.g., underground utilities such as pipes, conduits,or cables) or other conductors and processing the received signals todetermine information about the conductors and the associatedunderground environment.

Such conventional locating devices, though useful, fail to uniquely andprecisely identify buried utilities in situations where a wide varietyof buried utilities are installed in close proximity to each other.Also, such conventional locating devices often detect “false” locatesignals in instances where several other above-ground or undergroundmetallic objects are installed in vicinity of the buried utilities dueto interference caused by such surrounding objects. Accordingly, thereis a need in the art to address the above-described as well as otherproblems.

SUMMARY

This disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for locatingand identifying buried utilities. More specifically, but notexclusively, the disclosure relates to systems and methods for uniquelyidentifying buried utilities in a multi-utility region. The disclosurefurther relates to mapping uniquely identified buried utilities on ageographical map of the multi-utility region.

In one aspect, the present disclosure relates to a system for uniquelyidentifying buried utilities in a multi-utility region. The system mayinclude a magnetic field sensing locating device including one or moreantenna nodes to sense magnetic fields emitted from a plurality ofburied utilities and provide antenna output signals corresponding to thesensed magnetic fields. The locating device may include a receivercircuit having a receiver input to receive the antenna node outputsignals, an electronic circuitry to process the received antenna nodeoutput signals, and a receiver output to provide receiver output signalscorresponding to the received magnetic field signals. The locatingdevice may further include one or more processing elements to receiveand process the receiver output signals and identify a plurality oflocation data points indicative of location information pertaining tothe buried utilities and associated characteristics. The identifiedlocation data points may be used to create a plurality of clusters eachincluding, for example, a set of location data points sharing commoncharacteristics. These clusters may be classified based on one or morepatterns exhibited therefrom to uniquely identify each of the buriedutilities.

In another aspect, the present disclosure relates to a method foruniquely identifying buried utilities in a multi-utility region. Themethod may include sensing magnetic fields upon moving a magnetic fieldsensing locating device over a multi-utility region and identifying datapertaining to the plurality of buried utilities from the sensed magneticfields. Data may include, for example, a plurality of location datapoints each indicative of location information pertaining to at leastone of the buried utilities, one or more timestamps associated with thelocation information, and one or more characteristics of the at leastone of the buried utilities. Based on the identified location datapoints, a plurality of clusters may be generated where each cluster mayinclude a set of location data points sharing common characteristics.The method may further include identifying one or more patternsexhibited by these clusters, and classifying, based on the one or morepatterns, these clusters to uniquely identify buried utilities. Further,the location data points in the clusters may be correlated, spatiallyand in a time domain, for tracing the location of the uniquelyidentified buried utilities and mapping the traced location on ageographical map of the multi-utility region.

Various additional aspects, features, and functionality are furtherdescribed below in conjunction with the appended Drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present application may be more fully appreciated in connection withthe following detailed description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGS. 1A-1C illustrate an embodiment of a system for uniquelyidentifying buried utilities in a multi-utility region.

FIG. 1D illustrates exemplary power line harmonic spectra.

FIGS. 2A-2B illustrate an embodiment of a locating device and itsassociated components.

FIG. 2C illustrates exemplary antenna configurations for a locatingdevice.

FIGS. 3A-3B illustrate an embodiment of a system for uniquelyidentifying buried utilities in a multi-utility region and itsassociated components.

FIGS. 4A-4F illustrate an embodiment of a method for uniquelyidentifying buried utilities in a multi-utility region.

FIG. 4G illustrates an embodiment of an optimized map indicative ofoptimized locations of each of the buried utilities from FIGS. 4E-4F.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Terminology

The term “buried utilities” as used herein refers not only to utilitiesbelow the surface of the ground, but also to utilities that areotherwise obscured, covered, or hidden from direct view or access (e.g.overhead power lines, underwater utilities, and the like). In a typicalapplication a buried utility is a pipe, cable, conduit, wire, or otherobject buried under the ground surface, at a depth of from a fewcentimeters to meters or more, that a user, such as a utility companyemployee, construction company employee, homeowner or other wants tolocate, map (e.g., by surface position as defined by latitude/longitudeor other surface coordinates, and/or also by depth), measure, and/orprovide a surface mark corresponding to it using paint, electronicmarking techniques, images, video or other identification or mappingtechniques.

The term “utility data” as used herein, may include, but is not limitedto, data pertaining to presence or absence, position, depth, currentflow, magnitude, phase, and/or direction, and/or orientation ofunderground utility lines. The utility data may include a plurality oflocation data points each indicative of location information pertainingto a buried utility (interchangeably referred to as a “buried utilityline”), and associated characteristics of the buried utility. Theutility data may also include timestamps associated with the locationdata points. Further, the utility data may include information aboutsoil properties, other changes in properties of pipes or otherconductors in time and/or space, quality metrics of measured data,and/or other aspects of the utility and broadcast signals and/or thelocate environment. The utility data may also include data received fromvarious sensors, such as motion sensors, temperature sensors, humiditysensors, light sensors, barometers, sound, gas, radiation sensors, andother sensors provided within or coupled to the locating device(s). Theutility data further includes data received from ground trackingdevice(s) and camera element(s) provided within or coupled to thelocating device(s). The utility data may be in the form of magneticfield signals radiated from the buried utility.

The term “magnetic field signals” or “magnetic fields” as used hereinmay refer to radiation of electromagnetic energy at the locate area. Themagnetic field signals may further refer to radiation of electromagneticenergy from remote transmission sources measurable within the locatearea, typically at two or more points. For example, an AM broadcastradio tower used by a commercial AM radio station may transmit a radiosignal from a distance that is measurable within the locate operationarea.

The terms “filter,” “digital filter,” or “logic filter” as used hereinmay refer to processing of sampled input signals utilizing mathematicalalgorithms to transform sampled input signals to a more desirableoutput. Such desirable output may include but is not limited to noisesuppression, enhancement of selected frequency ranges, bandwidthlimiting, estimating the value of an unknown quantity or quantities, orthe like. Exemplary filters may include but are not limited to directFourier transforms (DFT), Kalman filters, and the like.

The term “electronic device” as used herein refers to any device orsystem that can be operated or controlled by electrical, optical, orother outputs from a user interface device. Examples of user electronicdevices include, but are not limited to, vehicle-mounted displaydevices, navigation systems such as global positioning system receivers,personal computers, notebook or laptop computers, personal digitalassistants (PDAs), cellular phones, computer tablet devices, electronictest or measurement equipment including processing units, and/or othersimilar systems or devices. In a particular embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the electronic device may include a map application, whichis a software stored on a non-transitory tangible medium within orcoupled to the electronic device configured to receive, send, generate,modify, display, store, and/or otherwise use or manipulate a map or itsassociated objects.

As used herein, the term “map” or “geographical map” refers to imagery,diagrams, graphical illustrations, line drawings or otherrepresentations depicting the attributes of a location, which mayinclude maps or images containing various dimensions (i.e. twodimensional maps or images and/or three dimensional maps or images).These may be vector or raster objects and/or combinations of both. Suchdepictions and/or representations may be used for navigation and/orrelaying information associated with positions or locations, and mayalso contain information associated with the positions or locations suchas coordinates, information defining features, images or videodepictions, and/or other related data or information. For instance, thespatial positioning of ground surface attributes may be depicted througha series of photographs or line drawings or other graphics representinga location. Various other data may be embedded or otherwise includedinto maps including, but not limited to, reference coordinateinformation such as latitude, longitude, and/or altitude data,topographical information, virtual models/objects, information regardingburied utilities or other associated objects or elements, structures onor below the surface, and the like. The maps may depict a probabilitycontour indicative of likelihood of presence of the buried utilities ata probable location, and other associated information such as probableorientation and depth of the buried utilities. Alternatively oradditionally, the map may depict optimized locations of the buriedutilities along with associated information such as orientation anddepth of the buried utilities.

The term “cluster” as used herein refers to sampled data that may begrouped by some property or characteristic as well as group or patternof properties or characteristics. Such clusters may generally refer tosome similarity in property or characteristic of sampled data. Suchproperties and characteristics may include but are not limited tomeasured magnetic field signals relative to orientation, azimuthalangle, depth, position, current, frequency, phase, or the like. It isalso noted that the cluster analysis methods described within thepresent disclosure, also referred to herein as “k-means clustering” or“clustering”, describe one method to determine the presence and locationof utility lines. Within locating operations other like methods, such ashierarchical clustering methods or other filtering, may instead oradditionally be used to locate utility lines.

The term “communicatively coupled” as used herein may refer to a linkfor exchange of information between locating devices, remote servers,and/or other system devices. Such a link may be transmitted via wire orcable or wirelessly, for instance, through Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or usinglike wireless communication devices or protocols. Such communicativecouplings may occur in real-time or near-real time or in post process.For instance, in some embodiments the locating device(s) may connectwirelessly to one or more remote servers for exchanging data inreal-time or near-real time for processing and further use at thelocating device(s). In other embodiments, locating data may be storedwithin the locating device and later transferred to a server or othercomputing device for processing. Such post processed data may then bedownloadable by the same or other locating devices for future use. Inyet further embodiments, a combination of real-time or near-real timeexchange of data and storage of data for post processing may occur. Forinstance, some data may be exchanged in real-time or near-real time toone or more remote servers whereas other data is stored at the locatingdevice for later transfer and post processing at a server or othercomputing device.

As used herein, the term, “exemplary” means “serving as an example,instance, or illustration.” Any aspect, detail, function,implementation, and/or embodiment described herein as “exemplary” is notnecessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over otheraspects and/or embodiments.

Overview

The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods forlocating and identifying buried utilities. More specifically, but notexclusively, the disclosure relates to systems and methods for uniquelyidentifying buried utilities in a multi-utility region where a widevariety of buried utilities are installed in a close distance from eachother. The disclosure further relates to mapping such uniquelyidentified buried utilities on a geographical map of the multi-utilityregion.

In one aspect, the systems and methods may include a magnetic fieldsensing locating device (interchangeably referred to as a “locatingdevice”) having one or more antenna nodes or antennas, a receivercircuit coupled to the antenna nodes including a receiver input, anelectronic circuitry, a receiver output, and a processing unit includingone or more processing elements coupled to the receiver output. Theantenna nodes may sense magnetic fields emitted from the buriedutilities and generate antenna output signals corresponding to thesensed magnetic fields. The antenna output signals may be received atthe receiver circuit and processed to generate receiver output signals,which may be provided to the processing unit.

At the processing unit, a location identification module may process thereceiver output signals to identify data pertaining to the buriedutilities. The location identification module may, for example,eliminate noise or false magnetic field signals, i.e., signals that donot pertain to any of the buried utilities from the receiver outputsignals, to identify the data (hereinafter referred to as “utilitydata”) that pertains to the buried utilities. The utility data mayinclude, for example, a plurality of location data points where eachdata point is indicative of location information pertaining to at leastone of the buried utilities in the multi-utility region.

These location data points may be received by a utility classificationmodule at the processing unit to generate a plurality of clusters, whereeach cluster may include a set of location data points sharing commoncharacteristics (e.g., substantially same depth, orientation, alignment,and the like). The generated clusters may exhibit one or more patterns(e.g., electrical characteristics including frequency spectrum, powerspectrum unique to specific buried utilities) which may be subsequentlyidentified by the utility classification module and may be utilized toclassify the clusters for uniquely identifying or characterizing each ofthe buried utilities. The location data points in a cluster may becorrelated, spatially and in a time domain, to trace location of each ofthe buried utilities facilitating the identified buried utilities withtheir corresponding traced locations to be mapped on a geographical mapof the multi-utility region.

According to various aspects of the present disclosure, the systems andmethods may include one or more vehicle-mounted magnetic field sensinglocating devices and/or hand-carried magnetic field sensing locatingdevices, to uniquely identify and map buried utilities in conjunctionwith a remote server/system communicatively coupled to the locatingdevices, in real-time or during post-processing.

Details of the locating devices referred herein, additional components,methods, and configurations that may be used in conjunction with theembodiments described subsequently herein are disclosed in co-assignedpatent applications including U.S. Pat. No. 7,009,399, issued Mar. 7,2006, entitled OMNIDIRECTIONAL SONDE AND LINE LOCATOR; U.S. Pat. No.7,136,765, issued Nov. 14, 2006, entitled A BURIED OBJECT LOCATING ANDTRACING METHOD AND SYSTEM EMPLOYING PRINCIPAL COMPONENTS ANALYSIS FORBLIND SIGNAL DETECTION; U.S. Pat. No. 7,221,136, issued May 22, 2007,entitled SONDES FOR LOCATING UNDERGROUND PIPES AND CONDUITS; U.S. Pat.No. 7,276,910, issued Oct. 2, 2007, entitled COMPACT SELF-TUNEDELECTRICAL RESONATOR FOR BURIED OBJECT LOCATOR APPLICATIONS; U.S. Pat.No. 7,288,929, issued Oct. 30, 2007, entitled INDUCTIVE CLAMP FORAPPLYING SIGNAL TO BURIED UTILITIES; U.S. Pat. No. 7,332,901, issuedFeb. 19, 2008, entitled LOCATOR WITH APPARENT DEPTH INDICATION; U.S.Pat. No. 7,336,078, issued Feb. 26, 2008, entitled MULTI-SENSOR MAPPINGOMNIDIRECTIONAL SONDE AND LINE LOCATORS; U.S. Pat. No. 7,557,559, issuedJul. 7, 2009, entitled COMPACT LINE ILLUMINATOR FOR LOCATING BURIEDPIPES AND CABLES; U.S. Pat. No. 7,619,516, issued Nov. 17, 2009,entitled SINGLE AND MULTI-TRACE OMNIDIRECTIONAL SONDE AND LINE LOCATORSAND TRANSMITTER USED THEREWITH; U.S. Pat. No. 7,733,077, issued Jun. 8,2010, entitled MULTI-SENSOR MAPPING OMNIDIRECTIONAL SONDE AND LINELOCATORS AND TRANSMITTER USED THEREWITH; U.S. Pat. No. 7,741,848, issuedJun. 22, 2010, entitled ADAPTIVE MULTICHANNEL LOCATOR SYSTEM FORMULTIPLE PROXIMITY DETECTION; U.S. Pat. No. 7,755,360, issued Jul. 13,2010, entitled PORTABLE LOCATOR SYSTEM WITH JAMMING REDUCTION; U.S. Pat.No. 9,625,602, issued Apr. 18, 2017, entitled SMART PERSONALCOMMUNICATION DEVICES AS USER INTERFACES; U.S. Pat. No. 7,830,149,issued Nov. 9, 2010, entitled AN UNDERGROUND UTILITY LOCATOR WITH ATRANSMITTER, A PAIR OF UPWARDLY OPENING POCKETS AND HELICAL COIL TYPEELECTRICAL CORDS; U.S. Pat. No. 7,969,151, issued Jun. 28, 2011,entitled PRE-AMPLIFIER AND MIXER CIRCUITRY FOR A LOCATOR ANTENNA; U.S.Pat. No. 8,013,610, issued Sep. 6, 2011, entitled HIGH-Q SELF TUNINGLOCATING TRANSMITTER; U.S. Pat. No. 8,203,343, issued Jun. 19, 2012,entitled RECONFIGURABLE PORTABLE LOCATOR EMPLOYING MULTIPLE SENSOR ARRAYHAVING FLEXIBLE NESTED ORTHOGONAL ANTENNAS; U.S. Pat. No. 8,248,056,issued Aug. 21, 2012, entitled BURIED OBJECT LOCATOR SYSTEM EMPLOYINGAUTOMATED VIRTUAL DEPTH EVENT DETECTION AND SIGNALING; U.S. Pat. No.9,599,499, issued Mar. 21, 2017, entitled SYSTEMS AND METHODS FORLOCATING BURIED OR HIDDEN OBJECTS USING SHEET CURRENT FLOW MODELS; U.S.Pat. No. 8,264,226, issued Sep. 11, 2012, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FORLOCATING BURIED PIPES AND CABLES WITH A MAN PORTABLE LOCATORAND ATRANSMITTER IN A MESH NETWORK; U.S. Pat. No. 9,638,824, issued May 2,2017, entitled QUAD-GRADIENT COILS FOR USE IN LOCATING SYSTEMS; U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/677,223, filed Nov. 14, 2012, entitledMULTI-FREQUENCY LOCATING SYSTEMS AND METHODS; U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/769,202, filed Feb. 15, 2013, entitled SMART PAINT STICKDEVICES AND METHODS; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/774,351, filedFeb. 22, 2013, entitled DOCKABLE TRIPODAL CAMERA CONTROL UNIT; U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/787,711, filed Mar. 6, 2013, entitledDUAL SENSED LOCATING SYSTEMS AND METHODS; U.S. Pat. No. 8,400,154,issued Mar. 19, 2013, entitled LOCATOR ANTENNA WITH CONDUCTIVE BOBBIN;U.S. Pat. No. 9,488,747, issued Nov. 8, 2016, entitled DUAL ANTENNASYSTEMS WITH VARIABLE POLARIZATION; U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/894,038, filed May 14, 2013, entitled OMNI-INDUCER TRANSMITTINGDEVICES AND METHODS; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/958,492, filedAug. 2, 2013, entitled OPTICAL ROUND TRACKING APPARATUS, SYSTEMS ANDMETHODS; U.S. Pat. No. 9,599,740, issued Mar. 21, 2017, entitled USERINTERFACES FOR UTILITY LOCATORS; U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/027,027, filed Sep. 13, 2013, entitled SONDE DEVICES INCLUDING ASECTIONAL FERRITE CORE STRUCTURE; U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/077,022, filed Nov. 11, 2013, entitled WEARABLE MAGNETIC FIELDUTILITY LOCATOR SYSTEM WITH SOUND FIELD GENERATION; U.S. Pat. No.8,547,428, issued Oct. 1, 2013, entitled PIPE MAPPING SYSTEM; U.S. Pat.No. 8,635,043, issued Jan. 21, 2014, entitled Locator and TransmitterCalibration System; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/332,268, filedJul. 15, 2014, entitled UTILITY LOCATOR TRANSMITTER DEVICES, SYSTEMS,AND METHODS WITH DOCKABLE APPARATUS; U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/446,145, filed Jul. 29, 2014, entitled UTILITY LOCATING SYSTEMS WITHMOBILE BASE STATION; U.S. Pat. No. 9,632,199, issued Apr. 25, 2017,entitled INDUCTIVE CLAMP DEVICES, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/516,558, filed Oct. 16, 2014, entitledELECTRONIC MARKER DEVICES AND SYSTEMS; U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/580,097, filed Dec. 22, 2014, entitled NULLED-SIGNAL LOCATINGDEVICES, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS; U.S. Pat. No. 9,057,754, issued Jun. 16,2015, entitled ECONOMICAL MAGNETIC LOCATOR APPARATUS AND METHOD; U.S.patent application Ser. No. 14/752,834, filed Jun. 27, 2015, entitledGROUND TRACKING APPARATUS, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS; U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/797,840, filed Jul. 13, 2015, entitled GROUND-TRACKINGDEVICES AND METHODS FOR USE WITH A UTILITY LOCATOR; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/798,177, filed Jul. 13, 2015, entitled MARKINGPAINT APPLICATOR FOR USE WITH PORTABLE UTILITY LOCATOR; U.S. Pat. No.9,081,109, issued Jul. 14, 2015, entitled GROUND-TRACKING DEVICES FORUSE WITH A MAPPING LOCATOR; U.S. Pat. No. 9,082,269, issued Jul. 14,2015, entitled HAPTIC DIRECTIONAL FEEDBACK HANDLES FOR LOCATION DEVICES;U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/802,791, filed Jul. 17, 2015,entitled METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR SEAMLESS TRANSITIONING IN INTERACTIVEMAPPING SYSTEMS; U.S. Pat. No. 9,085,007, issued Jul. 21, 2015, entitledMARKING PAINT APPLICATOR FOR PORTABLE LOCATOR; U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/949,868, filed Nov. 23, 2015, entitled BURIED OBJECT LOCATORAPPARATUS AND SYSTEMS; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/006,119,filed Jan. 26, 2016, entitled SELF-STANDING MULTI-LEG ATTACHMENT DEVICESFOR USE WITH UTILITY LOCATORS; U.S. Pat. No. 9,341,740, issued May 17,2016, entitled OPTICAL GROUND TRACKING APPARATUS, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS;U.S. Provisional Patent Application 62/350,147, filed Jun. 14, 2016,entitled TRACKABLE DIPOLE DEVICES, METHODS, AND SYSTEMS FOR USE WITHMARKING PAINT STICKS; U.S. Provisional Patent Application 62/352,731,filed Jun. 21, 2016, entitled SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR UNIQUELYIDENTIFYING BURIED UTILITIES IN A MULTI-UTILITY ENVIRONMENT; U.S. Pat.No. 9,411,067, issued Aug. 9, 2016, entitled GROUND-TRACKING SYSTEMS ANDAPPARATUS; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/247,503, filed Aug. 25,2016, entitled LOCATING DEVICES, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS USING FREQUENCYSUITES FOR UTILITY DETECTION; U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/250,666, filed Aug. 29, 2016, entitled PHASE-SYNCHRONIZED BURIEDOBJECT TRANSMITTER AND LOCATOR METHODS AND APPARATUS; U.S. Pat. No.9,435,907, issued Sep. 6, 2016, entitled PHASE SYNCHRONIZED BURIEDOBJECT LOCATOR APPARATUS, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS; U.S. Pat. No. 9,465,129,issued Oct. 11, 2016, entitled IMAGE-BASED MAPPING LOCATING SYSTEM; U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/331,570, filed Oct. 21, 2016, entitledKEYED CURRENT SIGNAL UTILITY LOCATING SYSTEMS AND METHODS; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/339,766, filed Oct. 31, 2016, entitled GRADIENTANTENNA COILS AND ARRAYS FOR USE IN LOCATING SYSTEMS; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/345,421, filed Nov. 7, 2016, entitledOMNI-INDUCER TRANSMITTING DEVICES AND METHODS; U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/360,979, filed Nov. 23, 2016, entitled UTILITY LOCATINGSYSTEMS, DEVICES, AND METHODS USING RADIO BROADCAST SIGNALS; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/376,576, filed Dec. 12, 2016, entitled MAGNETICSENSING BURIED OBJECT LOCATOR INCLUDING A CAMERA; U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application 62/435,681, filed Dec. 16, 2016, entitled SYSTEMS ANDMETHODS FOR ELECTRONICALLY MARKING AND LOCATING BURIED UTILITY ASSETS;U.S. Provisional Patent Application 62/438,069, filed Dec. 22, 2016,entitled SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ELECTRONICALLY MARKING, LOCATING, ANDDISPLAYING BURIED UTILITY ASSETS; U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/396,068, filed Dec. 30, 2016, entitled UTILITY LOCATOR TRANSMITTERAPPARATUS AND METHODS; U.S. Provisional Patent Application 62/444,310,filed Jan. 9, 2017, entitled DIPOLE-TRACKED LASER DISTANCE MEASURINGDEVICE; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/425,785, filed Feb. 6, 2017,entitled METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR HIGH-SPEED DATA TRANSFER EMPLOYINGSELF-SYNCHRONIZING QUADRATURE AMPLITUDE MODULATION (QAM); U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/434,056, filed Feb. 16, 2017, entitled BURIEDUTILITY MARKER DEVICES, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS; U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/457,149, filed Mar. 13, 2017, entitled USER INTERFACES FORUTILITY LOCATOR; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/457,222, filed Mar.13, 2017, entitled SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR LOCATING BURIED OR HIDDENOBJECTS USING SHEET CURRENT FLOW MODELS; U.S. patent application Ser.No. 15/457,897, filed Mar. 13, 2017, entitled UTILITY LOCATORS WITHRETRACTABLE SUPPORT STRUCTURES AND APPLICATIONS THEREOF; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/470,642, filed Mar. 27, 2017, entitled UTILITYLOCATING APPARATUS AND SYSTEMS USING MULTIPLE ANTENNA COILS; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/470,713, filed Mar. 27, 2017, entitled UTILITYLOCATORS WITH PERSONAL COMMUNICATION DEVICE USER INTERFACES; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/483,924, filed Apr. 10, 2017, entitled SYSTEMSAND METHODS FOR DATA TRANSFER USING SELF-SYNCHRONIZING QUADRATUREAMPLITUDE MODULATION (QAM); U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/485,082,filed Apr. 11, 2017, entitled MAGNETIC UTILITY LOCATOR DEVICES ANDMETHODS; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/485,125, filed Apr. 11,2017, entitled INDUCTIVE CLAMP DEVICES, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS; U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/490,740, filed Apr. 18, 2017, entitledNULLED-SIGNAL UTILITY LOCATING DEVICES, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS; U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/497,040, filed Apr. 25, 2017, entitledSYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR LOCATING AND/OR MAPPING BURIED UTILITIES USINGVEHICLE-MOUNTED LOCATING DEVICES; and U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/590,964, filed May 9, 2017, entitled BORING INSPECTION SYSTEMS ANDMETHODS. The content of each of the above-described applications ishereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. The aboveapplications may be collectively denoted herein as the “co-assignedapplications” or “incorporated applications.”

The following exemplary embodiments are provided for the purpose ofillustrating examples of various aspects, details, and functions of thepresent disclosure; however, the described embodiments are not intendedto be in any way limiting. It will be apparent to one of ordinary skillin the art that various aspects may be implemented in other embodimentswithin the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for uniquelyidentifying buried utilities in a multi-utility region, and furtherrelates to mapping the uniquely identified buried utilities.

In one aspect, the present disclosure relates to uniquely identifyingeach individual buried utility from amongst a plurality of buriedutilities.

In another aspect, the present disclosure relates to uniquely andprecisely identifying each buried utility in a multi-utility regionwhere a plurality of buried utilities are present in a close proximityto each other.

In another aspect, the present disclosure relates to uniquelyidentifying buried utilities in a situation where one or more buriedutilities cross over another buried utility or utilities.

In another aspect, the present disclosure relates to uniquely andprecisely identifying buried utilities in a multi-utility region where aplurality of buried utilities are present, and additionally a pluralityof other metallic/electrically conductive objects other than theutilities are present in proximity of the buried utilities.

In another aspect, the present disclosure relates to mapping theuniquely identified buried utilities on a geographical map of themulti-utility region.

In another aspect, the present disclosure relates to systems and methodsfor uniquely identifying buried utilities using a magnetic field sensinglocating device which may be a hand-carried locating device or avehicle-mounted locating device.

In another aspect, the present disclosure relates to systems and methodsfor uniquely identifying buried utilities using a plurality of magneticfield sensing locating devices including hand-carried locating devices,vehicle-mounted locating devices, or a combination of thereof.

In another aspect, the present disclosure relates to systems and methodsfor uniquely identifying buried utilities using one or more magneticfield sensing locating devices and a remote server communicativelycoupled to such locating devices to receive data collected at themagnetic field sensing devices, to process the received data, remotely,to uniquely identify buried utilities, and to transmit information aboutuniquely identified buried utilities to respective user electronicdevices associated with the magnetic field sensing locating devices.

In another aspect, the present disclosure relates to systems and methodsfor uniquely identifying buried utilities using one or more magneticfield sensing locating devices and a remote server communicativelycoupled to such locating devices to receive data collected at themagnetic field sensing devices, to process the received data, remotely,to uniquely identify buried utilities, and to transmit information aboutuniquely identified buried utilities for remote viewing, planning,decisions and design purposes.

In another aspect, the present disclosure relates to systems and methodsfor uniquely identifying buried utilities utilizing one or more magneticfield sensing locating devices, or a combination of the magnetic fieldsensing locating devices and a remote server, to sense the magneticfields emitted from the buried utilities, and to process the sensedmagnetic fields in real-time or near-real time or in post processing touniquely identify the buried utilities.

In another aspect, the present disclosure relates to a system foruniquely identifying buried utilities in a multi-utility region. Thesystem may include a magnetic field sensing locating device includingone or more antenna nodes to sense magnetic fields emitted from aplurality of buried utilities and provide antenna output signalscorresponding to the sensed magnetic fields.

The system may further include a receiver circuit having a receiverinput to receive the antenna node output signals, an electroniccircuitry to process the received antenna node output signals, and areceiver output to provide receiver output signals corresponding to thereceived magnetic field signals.

The system may furthermore include a processing unit having one or moreprocessing elements coupled to the receiver output to receive thereceiver output signals. The processing elements may further be coupledto a location identification module to process the receiver outputsignals and identify utility data pertaining to the plurality of buriedutilities from the receiver output signals. The utility data may includea plurality of location data points each indicative of locationinformation pertaining to at least one of the buried utilities and itsassociated characteristics. The processing elements may also be coupledto a utility classification module to receive the location data points,generate a plurality of clusters, each including a set of location datapoints sharing common characteristics, and classify the clusters basedon one or more patterns exhibited by the clusters to uniquely identifyeach of the buried utilities.

In another aspect, the present disclosure relates to a system foruniquely identifying and mapping buried utilities in a multi-utilityregion. The system may include one or more magnetic field sensinglocating devices including one or more vehicle-mounted magnetic fieldsensing locating devices and/or hand-carried magnetic field sensinglocating devices to sense magnetic field signals emitted from buriedutilities. The sensed magnetic fields signals may be processed todetermine utility data, for example, a plurality of location data pointseach indicative of location information pertaining to at least one ofthe buried utilities and associated characteristics of the at least oneof the buried utilities. The utility data may be provided to a remoteserver/system communicatively coupled to the locating devices. Theremote server may include a utility classification module to generate,based on the received location data points, a plurality of clusterswhere each cluster may include a set of location data points sharingcommon characteristics. The utility classification module may furtheridentify one or more patterns exhibited by each of the generatedclusters and correlate those clusters based on the patterns to uniquelyidentify and locate each of the buried utilities.

In another aspect, the present disclosure relates to a method foruniquely identifying buried utilities in a multi-utility region. Themethod may include sensing magnetic fields emitted from buried utilitiesupon moving a magnetic field sensing locating device over amulti-utility region and identifying them, based on the magnetic fieldsutility data pertaining to the buried utilities. The utility data mayinclude a plurality of location data points where each location datapoint is indicative of location information pertaining to one or moreburied utilities, timestamp(s) associated therewith, and one or morecharacteristics of such buried utilities.

The method may further include generating a plurality of clusters basedon the identified location data points where each cluster may include aset of location data points sharing common characteristics. Theseclusters may exhibit one or more patterns which may be identified andused for classifying the clusters to uniquely identify the buriedutilities. The method may also include correlating the location datapoints in these clusters, spatially and in a time domain, to tracelocation of the uniquely identified buried utilities and to map thetraced location of the uniquely identified buried utilities on ageographical map of the multi-utility region.

Exemplary Embodiments

Referring to the figures now, FIGS. 1A-1B illustrate embodiments of asystem 100A and 100B for uniquely identifying buried utilities in amulti-utility region, embodying the principles and concepts of thepresent disclosure.

The system 100A of FIG. 1A and the system 100B of FIG. 1B may include amagnetic field sensing locating device 102 (interchangeably referred toas a “locating device”) to detect buried utilities 104 in amulti-utility region. The locating device 102, according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure, may be a hand-carried locatingdevice 102 carried by a technician 106 as shown in the FIG. 1A, or avehicle-mounted locating device 102 mounted at a suitable position on avehicle 108 as shown in the FIG. 1B.

Although embodiments of the vehicle-mounted locating device 102described hereinafter in the description and appended drawings refer toone or more locating devices 102 being mounted on, particularly,terrestrial vehicles, this description and/or drawings are not intendedto be construed in a limiting sense. The vehicle 108 may be any kind ofa motor assisted user-propelled vehicle or a self-propelled vehiclecapable of supporting one or more locating devices 102 thereon. Examplesmay include terrestrial vehicles, submarine vehicles, aerial vehicles,or a combination thereof, including, but not limited to, cars, trucks,sport utility vehicles (SUVs), motorcycles, boats, ships, low flyingdrones, or the like.

The system 100A and 100B of FIGS. 1A and 1B respectively may furtherinclude one or more active transmitters 110 with one or more inductiveclamp devices 112 and/or direct connect clips and/or like devices forinductively or directly or capacitively coupling signal to targetutility line(s) (e.g., buried utilities 104). Additionally, one or moreinduction stick devices 116 or like induction devices may be providedfor inducing signal onto buried utilities 104. Within the system 100B ofFIG. 1B, for instance, the vehicle 108 may include an inductive device(not illustrated) to induce signal onto nearby utility lines.

As illustrated in both FIGS. 1A and 1 , one or more AM radio broadcasttowers 114 and/or other sources of electromagnetic signals (e.g.,powerlines, transformers, or the like) may likewise generate signalsthat may couple to buried utilities 104 and reradiate a magnetic signalmeasurable at the locating device 102. For instance, the signals 118emitted from buried utilities 104 may be active signals from thetransmitter 110 and/or induction stick device 116 and/or present in theutility line (e.g., such as the electromagnetic signal inherentlyemitted from current flow through a powerline or line fortelecommunications 119) and/or may be coupled via other electromagneticsignal transmitters (e.g., overhead powerlines, AM radio broadcasttowers 114, or the like) that may be measured at the locating device102.

Still referring to FIGS. 1A and 1 , when the locating device 102 ismoved over the multi-utility region, the locating device 102 may measuremagnetic fields emitted from a plurality of buried utilities 104. Ingeneral, besides buried utilities 104, the sensed magnetic fields mayalso include magnetic fields emitted from other buried or above groundconductors or metallic objects (hereinafter referred to as “buriedobjects”) such as jammers, rebar in concrete, railroad spurs, groundpipe alignment, poles, and the like, buried in proximity of the buriedutilities 104. The locating device 102, in accordance with the presentsubject matter, processes such measured magnetic fields, whereby theprocessing includes distinguishing the magnetic fields that pertain tothe buried utilities 104 from those emitted from other buried objectsbased on evaluation of various parameters, including but not limited to,magnitude of the magnetic fields, gradients of the magnetic fields (e.g.gradients in a horizontal direction of the magnetic fields), and angleof elevation of the magnetic fields.

In an embodiment, such parameters are evaluated periodically or atregular intervals (in real-time, near real-time, or post processing) asthe locating device 102 or the vehicle 108 having the locating device102 attached thereto is moved along the path of the buried utilities104. For example, as shown in the FIG. 1C, when the locating device 102or the vehicle 108 having the locating device 102 attached thereto ismoved at regular intervals, say, at intervals “a,” “b,” and “c”,magnitude of the magnetic fields, angle of elevation of the magneticfields and gradients may be determined at each of such intervals “a,”“b,” and “c”. As an instance, gradients may be determined from tensorderivatives of a signal's magnetic field vector, hereinafter referred toas “gradient tensors” “T1,” “T2,” and “T3” based on the magnetic fieldvectors (B_(Up1), B_(Low1)), (B_(Up2), B_(Low2)), and (B_(Up3),B_(Low3)), where B_(Up1), B_(Up2), and B_(Up3) correspond to magneticfield vectors derived from the upper antenna nodes respectively, andB_(Low1), B_(Low2), and B_(Low3) correspond to magnetic field vectorsderived from the lower antenna nodes respectively.

Subsequent to evaluation of such parameters (e.g., magnitude of themagnetic fields, gradients of the magnetic fields, and angle ofelevation of the magnetic fields), a determination may be made whethersuch parameters related to the magnetic fields are within theirrespective predefined range. Based on the determination, the magneticfields having corresponding parameters in their predefined range areidentified as buried utilities, and other magnetic fields are eliminatedas noise. After processing, utility data pertaining to the buriedutilities are identified from the magnetic fields that pertain to theburied utilities.

In some embodiments, the locating device 102 may include electronicmarker excitation device(s) (not shown) provided either as an in-builtdevice or a separate device coupled to the locating device 102, whichmay be actuated to excite various pre-existing electronic marks (e.g.,Underground field identification/Radio Frequency Identification tags,marker devices or balls) buried in proximity to the buried utilities, inorder to identify the buried utilities and utility data associatedtherewith.

The locating device 102 may also include imaging device(s), such ascamera modules (not shown) that may detect other non-electronicpre-existing marks, such as paint marks to identify the buried utilitiesand associated utility data. The utility data, thus identified, as aresult of processing and additionally as a result of detection ofpre-existing marks may include, amongst other data, a plurality oflocation data points each of which indicates location informationpertaining to a buried utility 104 at a geographical instance of themulti-utility region. The location information indicated by the locationdata point may refer to an absolute position of the buried utility 104at the geographical instance capable of being represented in a threedimensional universal coordinate system.

Based on these location data points, the locating device 102 maygenerate a plurality of clusters each of which may include a set oflocation data points sharing common characteristics. The term “cluster”as used herein refers to sampled data that may be grouped by someproperty or characteristic as well as a group or pattern of propertiesor characteristics. The clusters may generally refer to some similarityin property or characteristic of sampled data. Examples of thecharacteristics may include, not in a limiting sense, underground depth,orientation, alignment, and placement relative to other objects,azimuthal of measured fields, current/power and rate of change,frequency, phase or phase change ratio, and the like.

The generated clusters may exhibit one or more patterns, which, in thecontext of the present subject matter, may be understood as uniquecharacteristics associated with the buried utilities that are capable ofdistinguishing one buried utility from other buried utilities. Examplesof the patterns may include, not in a limiting sense, electricalcharacteristics such as frequency spectrum and power spectrum, harmonicsdata (e.g., odd harmonics, even harmonics, or a combination thereof),rebroadcast frequencies, and the like. Based on such patterns, thelocating device 102 may classify the clusters to uniquely identify theburied utilities 104.

In some embodiments, the locating device 102 may carry out furtheranalysis and/or processing to determine more granular level detailsassociated with the buried utilities. For instance, if a power line isidentified as a buried utility, further analysis may indicate that thepower line is a main AC power distribution line.

As further illustrated in FIG. 1D, a power line, such as the AC powerdistribution line previously described, may have harmonics havingdifferent power spectra, as represented graphically in power spectra190A, 190B, and 190C. Each power line harmonic spectra 190A, 190B,and/or 190C may have a distinct fingerprint or signature. The clusteringmethods described herein may classify the fingerprint of the power lineharmonic spectra 190A, 190B, and/or 190C allowing each associatedutility line to be uniquely identified.

It is to be noted that the specific clustering method(s) describedherein may be some method(s) to determine the presence and location ofutility lines. However, other methods such as hierarchical clustering orother filtering methods/techniques may instead or additionally be usedto locate utility lines, without deviating from the scope of the presentdisclosure.

Referring back to FIGS. 1A and 1 , according to one aspect, the locatingdevice 102 may further generate an individual cluster quality metric foreach of the clusters expressing how different the location data pointsin a cluster are from the location data points in other clusters. Thelocating device 102 may further generate a common cluster quality metricbased on the individual cluster metrics expressing how different acluster is from other clusters. Such a common cluster quality metric asreferred herein may be understood as a metric that represents a measureof the quality of differentiation between the clusters. Alternatively oradditionally, the locating device 102 may generate an individual clusterquality metric for each of the clusters expressing how similar thelocation data points in the cluster are with the location data points inother clusters, and may further generate a common cluster quality metricbased on the individual cluster metrics expressing how similar a clusteris to other clusters. Based on one or more of such cluster qualitymetrics and the detected patterns, the locating device 102 may identifythe clusters that are representative of a common buried utility, andprocess such clusters to uniquely identify each of the buried utilities.

Once the buried utilities are uniquely identified, the locating device102 may correlate the location data points in the clusters bothspatially and in a time domain, to trace the location of the identifiedburied utilities 104. Additionally, the locating device 102 maydetermine if a utility being traced has changed to a different utilityto precisely trace each of the buried utilities. The identified buriedutility and its traced location may be mapped on a geographical map of amulti-utility region to assist users in finding the location. Themapping may include aligning the buried utilities on a base map (e.g.,pre-existing geographical map) of the multi-utility region, orvice-versa.

In some embodiments, the locating device 102 may also include arangefinder device(s) that may be actuated to measure relative distancebetween various reference objects such as landmarks, curbs, sidewalks,and poles, in the vicinity of the traced location of the buriedutilities 104. Such reference objects and their distance informationfrom the buried utilities may be also be mapped onto the geographicalmap of the multi-utility region, to further assist the user in findingthe location, or may simply be used to accurately align the buriedutilities on the base map of the multi-utility region.

Embodiments of the locating device 102 and its associated components arenow described with reference to the FIGS. 2A and 2B.

As shown in the FIG. 2A, the locating device 102 may include a body 202which may be configured in a variety of different shapes and/or sizes.The body 202 may include a head unit 204, and a central mast 206, alongwith associated mechanical components, such as hardware, connectors,etc. Further, the locating device 102 may include one or more antennanodes such as the lower antenna node 208 and the upper antenna node 209,molded to be coupled around the central mast 206, or disposed on orwithin the body 202 in various configurations.

Each of the antenna nodes 208 and 209 may include an antennaconfiguration of multiple coils. The antenna nodes 208 and 209 may eachinclude a node housing such as node housing 258 and node housing 259,and an antenna assembly such as the dodecahedral antenna assembly 268illustrated in FIG. 2C and the omnidirectional antenna assembly 269 alsoillustrated in FIG. 2C. As further illustrated in FIG. 2C, each antennaassembly 268 and 269 may be supported by an antenna array supportstructure 278 or 279. Alternately, or in addition, one or more of theantenna nodes may be a gradient antenna node. Likewise, in otherlocating device embodiments a different number of antenna nodes havingdifferent antenna assembly configurations may be used. For example, incertain embodiments, the antenna node may include one or moredodecahedral antenna node including twelve antenna coils and a gradientantenna node including two or more antenna coils.

In one embodiment, an interior omnidirectional antenna array may beprovided and supported by the antenna assembly positioning a pluralityof coils of an omnidirectional antenna array in orthogonal directions.The interior omnidirectional antenna array may include, for example,three orthogonally oriented antenna coils. Additionally, a gradientantenna array may be provided and supported by the antenna assemblypositioning a plurality of coils of the gradient antenna arraycircumferentially about the omnidirectional antenna array. The gradientantenna may include, for example, two diametrically opposed pairs ofgradient antenna coils. Alternatively, the gradient antenna coils mayinclude two gradient antenna coils and two dummy coils. The two gradientantenna coils may be co-axial. In some embodiments, the two gradientantenna coils may be oriented orthogonally.

Referring again to FIG. 2A, the head unit 204 of the locating device 102may include a receiver circuit having analog and/or digital electroniccircuitry to receive and process signals from antennas and other inputs,such as audio inputs, camera signals, and the like. Head unit 204 mayfurther include display unit 240, control and/or user interfacecomponents, such as one or more visual displays, speakers and/orheadphone interfaces, switches, touchscreen elements, one or more cameraelements, such as cameras 212, and the like. The camera elements mayinclude, for example, a pair of outward cameras projecting downwardly torecord imagery of the ground (locate area) where utilities are buried. Abattery 216 may further connect to the locating device 102 providingelectrical power thereto.

The electronic circuitry may include one or more processing units, whichrefers to a device or apparatus configured to carry out programmablesteps and/or other functions associated with the methods describedherein by processing instructions, typically in the form of coded orinterpreted software instructions. For instance, a processing unit asdescribed may be a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor(DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device,discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, memoryelements, or any combination(s) thereof designed to control variouslocator functions, such as those described subsequently herein.

The electronic circuitry may further include a plurality of sensingunits, including but not limited to, motion sensors, such asaccelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers, altimeters, other inertialsensors, temperature sensors, humidity sensors, light sensors,barometers, sound, gas, radiation sensors, and the like. Further, theelectronic circuitry may include Bluetooth radios, Wi-Fi, and/or otherwireless communication devices, cameras and/or other imaging sensors,audio sensors or recorders, global positioning satellite (GPS) sensors,global navigation satellite system (GNSS), or other satellite navigationsensors incorporated therein.

The locating device 102 may also include a ground tracking device 210coupled to the central mast 206 for tracking positions such astranslational and rotational movements of the locating device 102 withrespect to the ground. The ground tracking device 210 may be a stereooptical ground tracking device having one or more imagers for trackingground features of the utility path which may be utilized to track thepositions of the locating device 102. These ground features may becorrelated in time to determine height of the locating device 102 fromthe ground surface and various other measurements. Further, the groundfeatures may be correlated in time to calculate motion vectorsfacilitating precise determination of translational movements androtations of the locating device. The determined height, translationalmovements and rotations, may be used to determine depth and orientationof the buried utility 104 (FIGS. 1A and 1 ).

An exemplary block diagram of the locating device 102 may be seen inFIG. 2B. As shown in the FIG. 2B, the locating device 102 may includeone or more antenna nodes 208 and 209 and a receiver circuit 222 coupledto the antenna nodes 208 and 209. The receiver circuit 222 may include areceiver input 224, an electronic circuitry 226, and a receiver output228. The locating device 102 may further include a processing unit 230coupled to the receiver circuit 222, a sensing unit 234 having aplurality of sensors coupled to the processing unit 230, a storage unit236 that may be an internal memory or an external memory (e.g. a USB)coupled to the processing unit 230, an audio unit 238 coupled to theprocessing unit 230, and a display unit 240 also coupled to theprocessing unit 230.

The processing unit 230 may include one or more processing elements 232,such as a user interface (UI) processor (not shown) coupled to the audiounit 238 and the display unit 240, a data processor (not shown) coupledto the UI processor and the storage unit 236 (e.g. a USB), a motionprocessor (not shown) having sensing unit 234 coupled to the dataprocessor, and a field-programmable gate array (FGPA, not shown) havingassociated digital filter(s), such as Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT)filter(s) coupled to the data processor and the antenna nodes 208 and209. The processing unit 230 may further include a locationidentification module 242, a timing circuit 244, and a utilityclassification module 246 coupled to the processing elements 232.

According to one aspect, the antenna nodes 208 and 209 are configured tosense magnetic fields that may include active magnetic field signalsdirectly associated with the buried utility, such as active transmittersbleed off signals, and passive magnetic field signals (e.g., broadcastsignal) radiated from a radio broadcast station (e.g., AM radiostation), which when encountering a portion of a buried utility, inducesa current in the buried utility that generates an electromagnetic fieldaround the buried utility, or other induced magnetic field signalsinduced by induction device(s), such as an induction stick (not shown).In an example, the magnetic fields may be sensed at differentfrequencies and/or different bandwidths. Besides buried utilities, thesensed magnetic fields may also include magnetic fields emitted fromother metallic or conductive objects buried in a close proximity to theburied utilities. Upon sensing, the antenna nodes 208 and 209 provideantenna output signals, which are subsequently received by the receiverinput 224 and provided to the electronic circuitry 226 for processing.After processing, the electronic circuitry 226 provides the processedsignals to the receiver output 228 which may then provide the processedsignals as receiver output signals to the processing unit 230. Also, thesensing units may be configured to sense various parameters associatedwith the movement of the locating device 102 and/or movement of thevehicle carrying the locating device 102, and provide, in response tothe sensing, sensor data to the processing unit 230.

At the processing unit 230, one or more processing elements 232 may beconfigured to process the receiver output signals that include sensedmagnetic fields and the sensor data obtained from the sensing unit 234utilizing the location identification module 242 coupled to theprocessing elements 232. The processing carried out by the locationidentification module 242 may include distinguishing the magnetic fieldsthat pertain to the buried utilities 104 from noise or false magneticfield signals emitted by jammers or other metallic or conductive objectsburied in a close proximity to the buried utilities 104 (FIGS. 1A and1B) based on evaluation of various parameters including, not in alimiting sense, magnitude of the magnetic fields, gradients of themagnetic fields (e.g. gradients in a horizontal direction of themagnetic fields), and angle of elevation of the magnetic fields.

Upon distinguishing the magnetic fields, the location identificationmodule 242 may eliminate the magnetic fields emitted by general noise,self-noise or false signals emitted by other metallic or conductiveobjects and consider only those magnetic fields that pertain to theburied utilities 104 (FIGS. 1A and 1B) to generate or identify utilitydata pertaining to the buried utilities, whereby the utility data mayinclude a plurality of location data points indicative of locationinformation pertaining to the buried utilities at various geographicalinstances of the multi-utility region. The utility data may also includeassociated characteristics of the buried utilities 104 (FIGS. 1A and 1B)and one or more timestamps generated by the timing circuit 244 forassociating with the location data points. The timestamps may include acalendar date and a time registered with a predefined degree ofaccuracy, say, accuracy to second, millisecond, and/or nanosecond. Inone example, the timing circuit may include a clock (not shown) that isadjusted automatically based on a timing signal provided by a remotemaster clock operating according to a UTC (Coordinated Universal Time).

The utility data may additionally include information related topresence or absence, position, depth, current flow, magnitude, phase,and/or direction, and/or orientation of underground utility lines and/orother conductors, information about soil properties, other changes inproperties of pipes or other conductors in time and/or space, qualitymetrics of measured data, and/or other aspects of the utility, and/orthe locate environment, as well as data received from various sensingunits such as motion sensors, such as accelerometers, gyroscopes,magnetometers, altimeters, and the like, temperature sensors, humiditysensors, light sensors, barometers, sound, gas, radiation sensors, andother sensors provided within or coupled to the locating device(s) 102.Also, the utility data may include data received from ground trackingdevice(s).

In some embodiments, subsequent to distinguishing the magnetic fieldsand identifying the magnetic fields that pertain to the buried utilities104 (FIGS. 1A and 1 ), further processing such as sampling of themagnetic fields that pertain to the buried utilities 104 (FIGS. 1A and1B) may be carried out using discrete Fourier transform (DFT) filter(s).Sampling for the magnetic fields directly emitted from the buriedutilities 104 may be carried out, for example, at a first predefinedsampling rate (e.g., sampling rate from 5 Hz-20 Hz), and sampling forthe magnetic fields radiated from a radio broadcast station such asthose broadcast from AM broadcast radio tower 114, which produces theelectromagnetic field around the buried utilities 104 (FIGS. 1A and 1B)may be carried out at a second predefined sampling rate (e.g., 32 Hz).Subsequent to the distinguishing and sampling, a plurality of locationdata points may be identified.

The identified location data points may be received and processed by theutility classification module 246 to generate a plurality of clusters oflocation data points, whereby each of the clusters includes a set oflocation data points sharing common characteristics, for example,substantially same underground depth, orientation, alignment, andplacement relative to other objects, and the like. In an embodiment, theutility classification module 246 may generate clusters utilizing aconventionally known k-means clustering technique described in the booktitled “Cluster Analysis,” 5th Edition, ISBN. 978-0-470-97844-3, BrianS. Everitt et al., the content of which is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety). However, in other embodiments, otherknown clustering or filtering methods/techniques may be utilized togenerate the clusters.

The generated clusters may exhibit one or more patterns which areidentified by the utility classification module 246 and are used toclassify the clusters to uniquely identify or characterize the buriedutilities 104 (FIGS. 1A and 1 ). For instance, the clusters “A” and “B”both may exhibit a pattern “X,” which may, for the purpose of thisexample, be spectral signatures that match with spectral signatures ofan electricity line. Accordingly, the clusters “A” and “B” areclassified as the electricity line. The patterns as referred to hereinmay include frequency spectrum depicting harmonics (e.g. odd harmonicsand/or even harmonics) and/or rebroadcast frequencies, power spectrum,relative changes in the frequency and power spectrum, as well as phaseor relative phase to other measured signals, etc. In one example, apattern showing high relative power levels of 60 Hz and relatively lowamplitudes of higher powerline harmonics is most likely a main/larger ACpower distribution line. In another example, a pattern showing highrelative power of 180 Hz and also potentially 540 and 900 Hz is likelyto be 3 phase distribution. In another example, a pattern showing 120 Hz(single phase rectifier) and/or 360 Hz (3 phase rectifier) and lowlevels of AM coupling may be a cathodic protected pipe line. Also if anactive multi-frequency transmitter is connected, then the power andphases of the higher frequencies will change quickly with distance awayfrom the connection point depending on the utility type. Further, autility that shows a lot of 120, 240, 360, 480, even harmonics may beconnected to electronic equipment using rectifiers and switching powersupplies. Broad band signals in the 20-60 kHz range may be trafficsignal control loops.

In some embodiments, the utility classification module 246 may generateone or more cluster quality metrics, and uniquely identify each of theburied utilities based on such cluster quality metrics and/or detectedpatterns. Upon identification of the buried utilities, the utilityclassification module 246 may correlate the location data points in theclusters spatially and in a time domain to trace the location ofuniquely identified buried utilities 104. Referring to the above citedexample, the utility classification module 246 may correlate thelocation data points in the clusters “A” and “B” according togeographical locations of the location data points and associatedtimestamps to trace the location of the electricity line.

FIGS. 3A-3B illustrate embodiments of a system 300 for uniquelyidentifying buried utilities in a multi-utility region.

As shown in the FIG. 3A, the system 300 may include one or more locatingdevices 102, which may be hand-carried locating devices 102 and/orvehicle-mounted locating devices 102 communicatively coupled to a remoteserver/system 302 via a suitable wireless communication technology orvia stored data transfer. The system 300 may further include one or morepositioning devices 306 such as a high precision global position system(GPS) antennas, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) antennas, orthe like, operably coupled to the one or more locating devices 102.These positioning devices 306 may be attached directly to the locatingdevices 102 and/or may be built into the locating devices 102 in asuitable form. The system 300 may further include active transmitter(s)110 with one or more inductive clamp devices 112 for coupling signal toa target utility line such as buried utilities 104 measurable at thelocating devices 102.

Further, the system 300 may include other passive or active signalsources such as one or more AM broadcast radio towers 114, inductionstick devices 116, or the like. System 300 may further include a vehicle108 having multiple locating devices 102 for measuring magnetic fieldsignals. One or more inductive device (not illustrated) may be mountedon the vehicle for inducing signal onto nearby utility lines. Thesignals 118 illustrated as emitting from buried utilities 104 may beactive signals from the transmitter 110 and/or induction stick device116 and/or present in the utility line (e.g., such as theelectromagnetic signal inherently emitted from current flow through apowerline or line for telecommunications 119) and/or may be coupled viaother electromagnetic signal transmission sources (e.g., overheadpowerlines, AM radio broadcast towers 114, or the like) that may bemeasured at the locating device 102.

Turning to FIG. 3B, the remote server 302 as described above may includea database 304, which may be an internal repository implemented withinthe remote server 302, or an external repository associated with theremote server 302. The remote server 302 may be any electronicsystem/device capable of computing, such as a computer, a server, acluster of computers or servers, cloud computing, server farm, serverfarms in different locations, etc. The remote server 302 may includemultiple and separate components that may be electrically connected orinterfaced with one another as appropriate.

In an embodiment, the remote server 302 may be implemented in a cloudenvironment where the remote server 302 may correspond to a cloud serveroperably coupled to the locating devices 102, and the database 304 maycorrespond to a cloud database coupled to the cloud server. The remoteserver 302 may be accessible to one or more electronic devicesassociated with the locating devices 102, a vehicle carrying thelocating device 102, and/or its user/operator, via a communication link,which may include a satellite communication, or any type of network or acombination of networks. For example, network may include a local areanetwork (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) (e.g., the Internet), ametropolitan area network (MAN), an ad hoc network, a cellular network,a radio network, or a combination of networks.

The electronic device may include a display device (e.g. a display unit240 provided on the locating device 102 or a separate display deviceremotely coupled to the locating device 102), and a computing device ora wireless telecommunications device such as smart phone, personaldigital assistant (PDA), wireless laptop, a notebook computer, anavigational device (e.g. a global positioning system (GPS) device), orany portable device capable of displaying and/or manipulating the mapsor executing a navigation application. The electronic devices mayfurther include vehicle mounted display devices. In one example, theremote server may include a software application hosted thereon, whichis accessible by the electronic device. In another example, the remoteserver may provide proprietary programs or applications (apps)executable on each of the electronic devices.

As shown in the FIG. 3B, one or more locating devices 102 coupled to oneor more remote servers 302 may include, amongst other components, alocation identification module 242 to identify utility data frommagnetic fields sensed by the locating devices 102. The utility data mayinclude a plurality of location data points indicative of locationinformation pertaining to the buried utilities at various geographicalinstances of the multi-utility region. The locating devices 102 may alsoinclude one or more positioning devices 306 associated thereto, toconvert location information indicated by the location data points intoan absolute position capable of being represented in a universalcoordinate system (e.g., in terms of latitude and longitude). Theidentified location data points may be provided to the remote server302.

The remote server 302 may include a processing unit 310, a memory 312coupled to the processing unit 310, interface(s) 314, a utilityclassification module 316 coupled to the processing unit 310, and amapping module 318 coupled to the processing unit 310. The remote server302 may further include the database 304 configured to centrallymaintain the utility data obtained from one or more locating devices102. The database may either be an external database coupled to theremote server 302, or an internal database implemented within the memory312 of the remote server 302.

The processing unit 310 may include a single processor, or multipleprocessors, all of which could include multiple computing units. Theprocessor(s) may be implemented as one or more microprocessors,microcomputers, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, centralprocessing units, state machines, logic circuitries, field-programmablegate arrays (FPGA), and/or any devices that manipulate signals based onoperational instructions. Among other capabilities, the processor(s) isconfigured to fetch and execute computer-readable instructions and datastored in the memory.

The memory 312 may include any computer-readable medium known in the artincluding, for example, volatile memory, such as static random accessmemory (SRAM) and dynamic random access memory (DRAM), and/ornon-volatile memory, such as read only memory (ROM), erasableprogrammable ROM, flash memories, hard disks, optical disks, andmagnetic tapes.

The interface(s) 314 may include input/output interfaces and a graphicaluser interface enabling a user to communicate with the remote server byrequesting and receiving information therefrom.

The utility classification module 316 and the mapping module 318 may bedifferent modules that may include, amongst other things, routines,programs, objects, components, data structures, or software instructionsexecutable by the processing unit 310 to perform particular tasks ormethods of the present disclosure.

Upon receiving the utility data including location data points from thelocating devices 102, the processing unit 310 within the remote server302 may process the locating data points utilizing the utilityclassification module 316 coupled to the processing unit 310. Asdescribed in the foregoing, in addition to the location data points, theutility data also includes characteristics of the buried utilitiesassociated with each of the location data points, and one or moretimestamps associated with the location data points. Based on suchcharacteristics, the utility classification module 316 may cluster thelocation data points into a plurality of clusters 320, whereby each ofthe clusters 320 includes a set of location data points sharing commoncharacteristics.

The clusters 320 may exhibit one or more patterns 322 which may beidentified by the utility classification module 316. Based on suchpatterns 322, the utility classification module 316 may classify theclusters 320 to uniquely identify the buried utilities 104. Data (e.g.,classification data 324) obtained as a result of classification may bestored in the database 304. Further, the utility classification module316 may correlate the location data points in the clusters 320,spatially and in a time domain based on the timestamps, to trace thelocation of the uniquely identified buried utilities 104. The tracedlocation may be probable location(s) of a buried utility, or anoptimized location of a buried utility. The probable location(s) may bedetermined, for example, based on applying a pre-configured probabilityestimation algorithm on the correlated location data points, and/or theoptimized location may be determined, for example, based on applying apreconfigured optimization algorithm on the correlated location datapoints. In some embodiments, the utility classification module 316 mayutilize a combination of preconfigured algorithms to first determineprobable location(s) of the buried utilities and then derive anoptimized location of the buried utilities therefrom.

FIG. 4A illustrates an embodiment of a method 400 for uniquelyidentifying buried utilities.

The method 400 may be initiated at block 402, where the method 400 mayinclude sensing magnetic fields upon moving a magnetic field sensinglocating device over a multi-utility region that is comprised of aplurality of buried utilities (such as the multi-utility region 420illustrated in FIG. 4B). For example, one or more locating devices 102(FIGS. 1A and 1B) including hand carried magnetic field sensing locatingdevices (FIG. 1A) and/or vehicle-mounted locating devices (locatingdevice 102 of FIG. 1 ), or a combination thereof, may be moved over themulti-utility region (such as multi-utility region 420 of FIG. 4B) to besearched to sense magnetic fields emitted therefrom. The sensed magneticfields may include magnetic fields emitted by the buried utilitiesand/or those emitted by the other metallic or conductive objects buriedin proximity to the buried utilities such as rebar in concrete, railroadspurs, ground pipe alignment, and the like.

At block 404, the method 400 may include identifying utility datapertaining to the plurality of buried utilities from the sensed magneticfields, wherein the utility data comprises a plurality of location datapoints. The locating device(s) 102 (FIGS. 1A and 1B) may include aprocessing unit and associated modules, configured to process the sensedmagnetic fields to identify only those magnetic fields that pertain tothe buried utilities 104 (FIGS. 1A and 1 ). The processing may includeevaluating various parameters including, not in a limiting sense,magnitude of the magnetic fields, gradients of the magnetic fields(e.g., in a horizontal direction), and angle of elevation of themagnetic fields and determining whether such parameters related to themagnetic fields are within their respective predefined range. Based onthe determination, the magnetic fields having corresponding parametersin their predefined range are identified as buried utilities, and othermagnetic fields are eliminated as noise signals.

The processing may further include identifying, using a digital filter,a subset of the collected magnetic fields as a sliding window, andthereafter moving the sliding window through the magnetic fieldscollected at various geographical instances of the multi-utility regionto test whether the magnetic fields at each of such geographicalinstances are outliers of the magnetic fields in the sliding window. Themagnetic fields that are tested as outliers may be identified to bethose that are emitted from the buried utilities, and other magneticfields may be ignored or eliminated as noise. Subsequent to processing,utility data pertaining to the buried utilities may be identified fromthe magnetic fields that pertain to the buried utilities. The utilitydata may include a plurality of location data points indicative oflocation information pertaining to the buried utilities at variousgeographical instances of the multi-utility region.

At block 406, the method 400 may include generating a plurality ofclusters based on the identified location data points, wherein each ofthe clusters includes a set of location data points sharing commoncharacteristics. The locating device(s) 102 (FIGS. 1A and 1B) and/or aremote server 302 (FIGS. 3A and 3B) coupled to the locating device(s)may process the identified location data points. The processing mayinclude clustering sets of location data points that share commoncharacteristics into a plurality of clusters using a clusteringmethod/technique. The clustering method, in one example, may be ak-means clustering method. The clustering may be performed in real-timeor near real time. The processing may further include generating one ormore cluster quality metrics used for distinguishing the clusters fromeach other.

At block 408, the method 400 may include identifying one or morepatterns exhibited by the clusters. The locating device(s) 102 (FIGS. 1Aand 1B) and/or the remote server 302 (FIGS. 3A and 3B) may identify oneor more patterns exhibited by the clusters. In the context of thepresent disclosure, the term “patterns” may be understood as one or moreunique characteristics of the buried utility capable of distinguishingthe buried utility from other buried utilities. The patterns may beidentified in real-time or during post processing.

At block 410, the method 400 may include classifying the clusters basedon the patterns to uniquely identify each of the buried utilities. Thelocating device(s) 102 (FIGS. 1A and 1B) and/or the remote server 302(FIGS. 3A and 3B) may be configured to classify the clusters based onthe identified patterns to uniquely identify or characterize the buriedutilities. The locating device(s) 102 (FIGS. 1A and 1B) and/or theremote server 302 (FIGS. 3A and 3B), may classify the clusters basedfurther on the cluster quality metrics to uniquely identify each of theburied utilities. The classification may be performed in real-time orduring post-processing.

At block 412, the method 400 may include correlating the location datapoints in the clusters, spatially and in a time domain, to tracelocation of the uniquely identified buried utilities. The locatingdevice(s) 102 (FIGS. 1A and 1B) and/or the remote server 302 (FIGS. 3Aand 3B) may be configured to obtain the geographical locationinformation (e.g. latitude and longitude) and timestamps associated withthe location data points, and correlate the location data points in theclusters both spatially and in a time domain to organize/arrange thelocation data points to trace the location of the uniquely identifiedburied utilities.

At block 414, the method 400 may include mapping the buried utilitiesand corresponding traced locations on a geographical map of themulti-utility region. The locating device(s) 102 (FIGS. 1A and 1B)and/or remote server 302 (FIGS. 3A and 3B) may be configured to map theburied utilities and their corresponding locations on the geographicalmap of the multi-utility region, which may be transmitted to users ontheir respective electronic devices. Mapping may include aligning theburied utilities on a base map (e.g. pre-existing geographical map) ofthe multi-utility region based on the traced location or vice-versa.

FIG. 4B illustrates an example of a multi-utility region 420, which isan intersection having a plurality of buried utilities 104 buriedtherein in a close distance from each other. In this example, one ormore locating devices 102, such as a hand-carried locating device and/orvehicle-mounted locating device, may be moved over the multi-utilityregion 420 to search for the buried utilities 104. In general, thepresence of a buried utility is detected by the locating device uponsensing magnetic fields from a surface of a geographical region.However, the magnetic fields sensed by the locating device 102 may notnecessarily be emitted only from buried utilities. The magnetic fieldsmay also be emitted from other metallic or conductive objects buried inproximity to the buried utilities. Therefore, the magnetic fields thatare sensed by the locating device(s) 102 may include magnetic fieldsemitted by the buried objects and/or those emitted by the other buriedobjects.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the locatingdevice(s) 102 may include a processing unit and associated modules forprocessing the sensed magnetic fields and identifying only thosemagnetic fields that pertain to the buried utilities 102. The processingmay include determining magnitude of the magnetic fields, evaluatinggradients in a horizontal direction of the magnetic fields, measuringangle of elevation of the magnetic fields, and the like, to eliminatethe noise, i.e., the magnetic fields emitted from other metallic orconductive objects that are not utilities. After processing, forexample, of noise elimination (see FIG. 4C), utility data pertaining tothe buried utilities may be identified. The utility data may include aplurality of location data points indicative of location informationpertaining to the buried utilities at various geographical instances ofthe multi-utility region 420.

The locating device(s) 102 (FIGS. 1A, 1, and 4B) and/or a remote server302 (FIGS. 3A and 3B) coupled to the locating device(s) 102 (FIGS. 1A,1B, and 4B) may process the identified location data points based on aclustering algorithm to generate a plurality of clusters each includinga set of location data points that share common characteristics. In someembodiments, a k-means clustering algorithm may be used for clusteringthe location data points. The k-means clustering is a distance-basedclustering algorithm partitioning a data set into a predetermined numberof clusters “k.” The k-means clustering algorithm finds a locallyoptimum way to cluster the dataset into “k” partitions so as to minimizethe average difference between the mean of each cluster (clustercentroid “X”) and every member of that cluster. The difference ismeasured by a distance metric such as Euclidean or Cosine distancemetric. For example, the “Cluster 1,” “Cluster 2,” “Cluster 3,” “Cluster4,” “Cluster 5,” “Cluster 6,” and “Cluster 7” are formed, as may be seenin the FIG. 4C. Such clusters may be formed as a result of execution ofthe k-means clustering algorithm graphic 424 depicted in FIG. 4D,wherein “K” represents the number of clusters, which is 7 in thisexample, and “X” represents the centroid.

For each of the clusters, the locating device(s) 102 (FIGS. 1A, 1B, and4B) and/or the remote server 302 (FIGS. 3A and 3B) may identify one ormore patterns exhibited by such clusters. A pattern may be a uniquecharacteristic of the buried utility line. As illustrated in FIG. 4C,the following patterns are identified: “Pattern W,” “Pattern X” “PatternY,” and “Pattern Z.” Based on such patterns, the clusters may beclassified. As shown, “Cluster 1” and “Cluster 3” are classifiedaccording to “Pattern W,” which is indicative of a buried utility “GasPipeline A.” Further, “Cluster 2” and “Cluster 4” are classifiedaccording to “Pattern X” which is indicative of a buried utility“Electricity Line B.” Further, “Cluster 5” is classified according to“Pattern Y,” which is indicative of a buried utility “Telephone Line C,”and finally “Cluster 6” and “Cluster 7” are classified according to“Pattern Z,” which is indicative of a buried utility “Fiber Optic CableD.”

Once each of the buried utilities is uniquely identified, the locatingdevice(s) 102 (FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 4B) and/or the remote server 302 (FIGS.3A and 3B) may correlate the location data points in the clusters totrace the location of the buried utilities. The location tracing may beused for mapping the uniquely identified buried utilities on ageographical map 430 (FIGS. 4E-4G) of the multi-utility region 420. Themapping may be carried out by the mapping module 318 associated with thelocating device(s) and/or the remote server.

FIGS. 4E, 4F, and 4G illustrate exemplary geographical maps generated bythe mapping module 318.

As shown in FIG. 4E, the geographical map may include probabilitycontour(s) 434A, 434B, 434C, and/or 434D indicative of probablelocation(s) of the buried utilities. In an embodiment, when a particularprobability contour 434A, 434B, 434C, or 434D is selected on thegeographical map 430, the geographical map 430 may additionally displayprobability scores associated with the selected probability contour434A, 434B, 434C, or 434D. The probability score may be in the form of apercentage, or another suitable form. As an instance, a probabilityscore of 90% may indicate that there is 90% probability that the buriedutility is within the region depicted by the probability contour.

As shown in FIG. 4F, the probability contours 434A, 434B, 434C, and/or434D may be a combination of individual contours defined by separateclusters, which may connected (e.g., by a dotted line) on a geographicalmap 430 to indicate probability of the individual connected contours tobe the same utility. Such probability contours may also have probabilityscores associated therewith.

As shown in FIG. 4G, the geographical map 430 may be an optimized mapindicative of optimized locations 436A, 436B, 436C, and/or 436D of eachof the buried utilities.

In some embodiments, the geographical map may be a heat map whereby ahierarchy of gradient and/or gradient tensor values may be representedby color, shading, patterns, and/or other representation of measuredgradients at locations within the map. Further, the geographical map maybe a user navigable map depicting the buried utility/utilities 104(FIGS. 1A, 1 i, and 4B) within the multi-utility region, and directing auser to the desired buried utilities. The geographical map may includeimages and/or videos of the buried location(s) to assist the user withfinding the location.

In certain embodiments, the geographical map may additionally includereference data to nearby objects, such as landmarks, curbs, sidewalks,poles, and survey markers, to further assist the user in finding thelocation. For this purpose, one or more rangefinder devices, such as alaser rangefinder (not shown) may be provided with the locating device102 (FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 4B) either as an in-built device or a separatedevice coupled to the locating device 102 (FIGS. 1A, 1 i, and 4B). Suchrangefinder device(s) detect one or more reference objects in thevicinity of the buried utilities, and determine, at each of the locationdata points, an orientation and/or placement of the locating device 102(FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 4B) relative to the reference objects, which isstored as reference data into the locating device 102. The mappingmodule 318 (FIG. 3B) associated with the locating device 102 (FIGS. 1A,1B, and 4B) may receive this reference data and subsequently map or tagthe reference data with the buried utilities and their traced locationson the geographical map to further assist the users in preciselylocating the buried utilities.

Further, in certain embodiments, one or more cameras or other opticalsensors used as mark reader devices (not shown) may be provided with thelocating device 102 (FIGS. 1A, 1 , and 4B) either as an in-built deviceor a separate device coupled to the locating device 102 (FIGS. 1A, 1 i,and 4B), to detect/read pre-existing markers including paint marks.Likewise, the locating device 102 (FIGS. 1A, 1 i, and 4B) may include aburied marker device exciter and/or buried marker device reader eitheras an in-built device or a separate device optionally coupled to thelocating device 102 (FIGS. 1A, 1, and 4B) to excite and detect/readburied electronic markers such as radio frequencyidentification/underground field identification tags or other markerdevices/balls associated with buried utilities, to collect additionalinformation pertaining to the buried utilities. Such additionalinformation may also be mapped or tagged to corresponding buriedutilities and their traced locations on the geographical map. Further,such information may allow the buried utilities to be aligned to a basemap of the multi-utility region or vice versa.

The geographical map, thus generated, may be transmitted to respectiveone or more electronic user devices 308 (FIG. 3B) associated with thelocating devices 102 (FIGS. 1A, 1 i, and 4 n). Alternatively, the tracedlocation of the buried utilities 104 (FIGS. 1A, 1, and 4B) andassociated reference data and/or additional information obtained frommarkers may be overlaid or mapped to a pre-existing map of themulti-utility region preloaded onto the electronic user device(s) 308(FIG. 3 n ). Data (e.g., mapping data 326, FIG. 3B) related to theuniquely identified buried utilities, traced location of such buriedutilities, and/or the generated geographical map may be stored into thedatabase 304 (FIG. 3 n ).

It is to be understood that the order in which the method 400 (FIG. 4A)is described is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and anynumber of the described method blocks can be combined in any order toimplement the method, or alternative methods. Additionally, individualblocks may be deleted from the method without departing from the spiritand scope of the subject matter described herein.

In one or more exemplary embodiments, the functions, methods, andprocesses described may be implemented in whole or in part in hardware,software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented insoftware, the functions may be stored on or encoded as one or moreinstructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readablemedia include computer storage media. Storage media may be any availablemedia that can be accessed by a computer.

By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media caninclude RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magneticdisk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium thatcan be used to carry or store desired program code in the form ofinstructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer.Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc,optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray discwhere disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproducedata optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also beincluded within the scope of computer-readable media.

The various illustrative functions, modules, and circuits described inconnection with the embodiments disclosed herein with respect tolocating and/or mapping, and/or other functions described herein may beimplemented or performed in one or more processing units or modules witha general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmablegate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate ortransistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combinationthereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A generalpurpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, theprocessor may be any conventional processor, controller,microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implementedas a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP anda microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or moremicroprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other suchconfiguration.

Those of skill in the art would understand that information and signalsmay be represented using any of a variety of different technologies andtechniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information,signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout theabove description may be represented by voltages, currents,electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields orparticles, or any combination thereof.

The disclosures are not intended to be limited to the aspects shownherein, but are to be accorded the full scope consistent with thespecification and drawings, wherein reference to an element in thesingular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless specificallyso stated, but rather “one or more.” Unless specifically statedotherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. A phrase referring to“at least one of” a list of items refers to any combination of thoseitems, including single members. As an example, “at least one of: a, b,or c” is intended to cover: a; b; c; a and b; a and c; b and c; and a, band c.

The previous description of the disclosed aspects is provided to enableany person skilled in the art to make or use embodiments of the presentinvention. Various modifications to these aspects will be readilyapparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles definedherein may be applied to other aspects without departing from the spiritor scope of the disclosure and invention. Thus, the invention is notintended to be limited to the aspects shown herein but is to be accordedthe widest scope consistent with the disclosures and associated drawingsand their equivalents.

We claim:
 1. A method for uniquely identifying buried utilities in amulti-utility region, the method comprising: receiving magnetic fieldsignals at a dodecahedral antenna array of a magnetic field sensingutility locator while moving the magnetic field sensing utility locatorover a region having a plurality of utilities buried therein, andproviding output signals from the dodecahedral antenna arraycorresponding to the received magnetic field signals; receiving theoutput signals from the dodecahedral antenna array in a processingelement and processing the received output signals to identify utilitydata associated with the plurality of buried utilities, wherein theutility data comprises a plurality of location data points eachindicative of location information pertaining to at least one of theburied utilities and one or more characteristics of the at least one ofthe buried utilities; generating a plurality of clusters based on theidentified location data points, wherein each of the plurality ofclusters includes a set of location data points sharing commoncharacteristics; identifying one or more patterns exhibited by each ofthe plurality of clusters; and classifying the plurality of clusters,based on the one or more patterns, to uniquely identify the buriedutilities.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensed magnetic fieldsinclude magnetic fields emitted from one or more of the plurality ofutilities.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the sensed magnetic fieldsinclude magnetic fields emitted from one or more buried objects otherthan the one or more plurality of utilities.
 4. The method of claim 1,further including generating map information based at least in part onthe plurality of clusters.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the mapinformation includes geographic features in the region having aplurality of utilities.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein the mapinformation includes position information of one or more of theplurality of utilities.
 7. A locating system, comprising: a magneticfield sensing buried utility locator, comprising: a dodecahedral antennaarray to sense magnetic fields that are emitted from a plurality ofburied utilities disposed in an area over which the magnetic fieldsensing buried utility locator is moved, and provide antenna outputsignals corresponding to the sensed magnetic fields; a receiver circuithaving a receiver input to receive the dodecahedral antenna array outputsignals and provide receiver output signals corresponding to the sensedmagnetic fields; and a processing circuit, including one or moreprocessing elements, coupled to the receiver output to receive thereceiver output signals.
 8. The system of claim 7, further including alocation identification module coupled to the processing circuit toprocess the receiver output signals and identify utility data pertainingto the plurality of buried utilities based at least in part on thereceiver output signal.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the utilitydata comprises a plurality of location data points each indicative oflocation information pertaining to at least one of the buried utilitiesand associated characteristics of the at least one of the buriedutilities; and the system further including a utility classificationmodule to receive the location data points, generate a plurality ofclusters each including a set of location data points sharing commoncharacteristics, and classify the plurality of clusters, based on one ormore patterns exhibited by the plurality of clusters, to uniquelyidentify each of the buried utilities.
 10. The system of claim 7,wherein the processing circuit is configured to determine a plurality ofclusters with each cluster including a set of location data pointssharing common characteristics.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein thecommon characteristics include one or more of substantially the sameunderground depth, orientation, alignment, and placement relative toother objects.
 12. The system of claim 10, wherein the processingcircuit determines one or more patterns exhibited by the plurality ofclusters.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more patternsinclude one or more of frequency spectrum, power spectrum, and aspectral signature.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or morepatterns include one or more of a harmonics patters and a rebroadcastfrequencies pattern.
 15. The system of claim 7, wherein the processingcircuit is configured to generate map information including traces ofone or more of the plurality of buried utilities.
 16. The system ofclaim 7, further including a rangerfinder device configured to measureabove ground relative distance between at least one reference object andone or more buried utilities of the plurality of buried utilities. 17.The system of claim 7, further including a mark reader device to detectand read a pre-existing electronic mark associated with the buriedutility.